Efficiency vs. Effectiveness

“How do we do this more efficiently,” we always hear in the workplace. How can we do this and this and this and this, and squeeze it into one workday? The problem with focusing on efficiency is that, in order to do so, we’re not focusing on effectiveness.

Efficiency is minimizing the amount of resources it takes to accomplish a task. Effectiveness focuses on what tasks need to be done in order to accomplish the actual desired result. Focus on what it takes to be effective instead of what it takes to be efficient.